Second World

1917  Chapter 1917. Going All Out

Grace wanted to heal the high demon lord, but Belphegor's punch sent her far away. She instead used the healing orb above her to heal herself before charging back toward Belphegor. On her way, Belphegor's five clones blocked her path.

"Red!" Grace called.

Red Death glanced at her but soon turned back. "Deal with them yourself," Red Death said.

"Ugh!" Grace was vexed. She called Red Death because Red Death had the highest DPS. It was a prime opportunity to take out the clones. While with her defense, she was better suited to keep Belphegor busy.

Leaving Grace to battle the clones, Red Death continued to assault Belphegor together with Nameless. Belphegor didn't just let them hit him when he killed the high demon lord. His body had an ice armor protecting it. All the damage inflicted on him was reduced considerably.

Nameless used God's Champion's level 80 skill when Belphegor gave them free hits. The skill was called God's Branding. The skill conjured a hammer of light that slammed into the target. It was a single-target offensive skill that dealt 2000% light-element damage. Successfully hitting the target would give the target a God's Mark. Anyone bearing this mark had the damage they dealt reduced by 10% for the remainder of the battle. This effect was not stackable.

After dispensing the high demon lord, Belphegor turned his attention to this mark. He sensed that even he could not dispel the effect of this mark. All his attacks were weakened by one-tenth from now.

"Not bad, worm," Belphegor told Nameless. He kicked while speaking. The kick was so fast Nameless almost didn't manage to block. But even with the block, the impact still sent him flying.

Belphegor then vanished, evading a stab from Red Death. Red Death sensed the devil had circled to her back. She didn't waste time turning back. Her two hands twisted behind her back while executing Twin Dragon Stabs. She hit something. Something hard. She could feel from the impact that her stabs didn't deal much damage.

Something hard then banged into her from above. She smashed the ground. The impact was so hard she recoiled into the air. While she was still in the air, something rammed into her from above, sending her crashing into the ground again.

It was Belphegor's foot. With one punch and one stomp, he incapacitated Red Death. If not for her legendary-grade set armor, she probably would have lost her life.

Belphegor stayed his foot and kept her pinned to the ground. He then turned to Badass who had been sending range attacks at him nonstop. Badass had the Demonic Possession active, which boosted his standard range attacks.

When their eyes met, Badass felt a terrifying chill from inside him. His mind slowed while a layer of ice formed all over his body. He had been hit by the Infernal Freezing Gaze.

Belphegor focused ice energy onto his arms. The ice solidified and formed gauntlets made of curling ice chains. He then shoved his two arms out. One pointed at the frozen Badass. The other pointed at Nameless, who was running back to him.

The curling ice chains shot out of his two arms. One caught Badass. The other coiled around Nameless's shield when he used it to block the ice chain. The two were then pulled toward Belphegor.

They were slammed into the ground where Red Death was still pinned. Belphegor then jumped up. Affected by the ice aura around Belphegor, the three were too slow to react. Belphegor shot back down again. Following him was an illusory image of a falling iceberg. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The three were helpless on the ground. The iceberg fell into them with a loud crash. Clouds of ice dust spread everywhere, obscuring the view.

"Hm?" Belphegor sensed the three were not killed. Not only that, their aura had become stronger. He sensed the three attacked him. He could not see due to all the ice dust, but he met their attacks using his two arms. From the impacts, he couldn't believe the ones assaulting him were his previous opponents. They were much stronger.

He stomped the ground. An ice ring spread following his stomp. The ice ring dispersed all the ice clouds and cleared the view. He had a good look at the three then. All three were still his previous opponents, but their appearances had changed. They now looked like his kind, the demons.

The three had used Devilize before the iceberg hit, but that was not the only thing that saved them from certain death. The other factor was Grace used Generosity of Hope on them when she saw the three were about to get squashed. The three's HP was refilled to full before the impact happened. The full HP and increased defense from Devilize helped them survive.

A soothing light covered their devilized body. This was the lingering effect of the Generosity of Hope. If they died in the next thirty minutes, they would return to life with 70% HP.

"Interesting," Belphegor uttered after seeing their transformations.

The ice chain gauntlets were still on his arms. The ice chains rolled out as he swung his arms. These ice chains flailed about, increasing his striking range.

Even after using Devilize, they were still staggered when they clashed with Belphegor's ice chains, but at least the devil's speed was no longer that menacing.

"Well, since we are going all out…!" Nameless exclaimed. He used his pinnacle class' level 70 skill, God's Protection. This skill buffed himself and his allies in the vicinity, doubling their defense and reducing any damage they received by 30%.

With these buffs, they became much tougher. They could afford to get hit a few times, so they focused on offense.

Red Death used Death Executor's level 60 skill, Death Clone. This skill produced a clone similar to the Combat Clone, except it lasted much longer and could use her skills. Their skills shared the same cooldown, though. The clone was in her normal form, not the Devilize version. This clone lasted one hour.

Red Death and her death clone barraged Belphegor from the flanks while Nameless forced himself to engage Belphegor with frontal assaults.

Badass returned to attacking from range. His Demonic Possession ended, but he had a better option. He used Hell Ruler's level 80 skill, Devil Possession. While Devilize transformed his physical body, Devil Possession transformed his aura. The image of a devil made of black flames enshrouded his body. This skill boosted the power and range of both his standard attacks and spells. For standard attacks, his attack rate also increased. The boost was even stronger than the evolved form of the Demonic Possession once showcased by the Herald of Greed.

Badass also went all out. He used the last spell from Hell Ruler, Summon Archdemon Lord. Same as the one Jack summoned using his Amulet of Summoning, this one was also an eternal grade. Its level followed Badass' level, which was level 94.

Despite having the same name, the archdemon lord Jack summoned was a spellcaster type. The one summoned by Badass was a hybrid type. It carried a long scythe for a melee weapon and could cast spells. Without wasting time, this archdemon lord advanced while casting a spell.

A gravity field appeared where Belphegor was. This gravity field bogged down Belphegor's movements. The great thing about the spell was it didn't affect allies. Red Death and Nameless could move normally while Belphegor was hindered by the gravity field.

The archdemon lord also cast another spell that enshrouded its scythe with dark smoke. This enchantment added dark elemental damage to its every strike and eroded the durability of the equipment it hit. It barged in between Red Death and Nameless and slashed using its enchanted weapon. The scythe left a long trail of darkness in its path.

When the scythe slashed into Belphegor's ice armor, it left a long dark gash that remained. As the archdemon lord landed more slashes, more dark gashes appeared in the armor. The ice armor's effectiveness decreased with each of these dark gashes.

Seeing the archdemon lord had a dark-based spell, Red Death asked Badass, "Hey! Does your summon possess a spell that darkens the surroundings?"

"It does," Badass answered. He sent a mental command to the archdemon lord. The archdemon lord started casting.

When its spell was completed, a shadow enveloped the surroundings. It was still noon, but the area around them darkened as if it was evening. The spell was called Dark World Domain. It was the weaker version of Mammon's Absolute Darkness Domain.

Though it didn't create a pitch-black environment like the Absolute Darkness Domain, it hindered enemies' vision without affecting allies. It didn't inflict DOT but reduced enemies' stats within the domain.

This spell was not effective against Belphegor since Belphegor could sense mana. Red Death didn't ask for this spell to hinder Belphegor's vision or to reduce his stats. She had other uses for the spell.

While Nameless, her death clone, and the archdemon lord assailed Belphegor, who was still hindered by the gravity field, her figure turned blurry. She slowly blended into the shadow caused by the darkening environment. Her presence was gone completely. Even Belphegor's ice aura couldn't detect her anymore.